British troops in Afghanistan: 13 years of the 'war on terror' [Photo report]

British and US troops, along with their Nato partners, formally ended the war in Afghanistan on 28 December 2014. The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was formed to crush the Taliban following the September 11 attacks.

At its height, the Nato-led force had some 140,000 military personnel from nearly 50 nations. Camp Bastion and Camp Leatherneck alone once had 40,000 military personnel and civilian contractors as the regional headquarters for the international military coalition.

The conflict claimed the lives of 3,485 foreign troops. Britain suffered 453 fatalities during the campaign. IBTimes UK looks back on Britain's 13-year participation in the "war on terror" in Afghanistan.

April 4, 2002: Newly-arrived British Royal Marines march to a briefing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The Marines were part of a contingent of approximately 120 who arrived two days before, in the first deployment of British forcesJoe Raedle/Getty ImagesApril 18, 2002: Naval vessels from five nations fall into position for a rare photographic opportunity, . From top row left to right: Italian frigate ITS Maestrale, French destroyer FS De Grasse, US aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis, US cruiser USS Port Royal, French aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle, British Royal Navy amphibious warfare ship HMS Ocean, French frigate FS Surcouf, US aircraft carrier USS John F Kennedy, Dutch frigate HNLMS Van Amstel and Italian destroyer ITS Luigi Durand de la Penne. The coalition forces were being deployed in support of Operation Enduring FreedomUS Navy/Alta I Cutler/ReutersMay 10, 2002: Caves stacked with in excess of 20 truckloads of heavy weapons and ammunition are blown up by British Royal Marines in Paktika Province in eastern AfghanistanPhil Hannaford/ReutersJanuary 28, 2004: British soldiers inspect the scene around a wrecked military vehicle after it was hit by a car bomb attack in Kabul. A British soldier was killed and three were severely injured when a car bomb exploded as a convoy was passing a military campShah Marai/AFPFebruary 5, 2004: The flag-draped coffin of Private Jonathan Peter Kitulagoda is carried off a Royal Air Force Hercules upon its arrival at Brize Norton. The 23-year-old private was killed by a suspected suicide bomb attack near a military base in Kabul, AfghanistanCpl Dave Liddle RLC/British Army via Getty ImagesNovember 14, 2005: British soldiers stand near burning vehicles after a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan. A suicide car bomber killed one soldier and wounded two othersReutersMarch 23, 2006: Springer spaniel Toby, an eight-year-old explosives sniffer dog, arrives with British forces in Mus Qala in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. An advance team of British soldiers met with local Afghan leaders throughout the province ahead of the arrival of several thousand British forces in the Helmand Task ForceJohn Moore/Getty ImagesThe flag-draped coffins of 14 military personnel killed when an RAF Nimrod aircraft crashed in Afghanistan are transported back to the UK. The RAF Nimrod crashed on 2 September 2006, killing 14 military personnel in Britain's biggest single loss since the Falklands WarMoDOctober 19, 2006: Nicholas Miles, three, runs to his father Major Clive Miles as he returns to Howe Barracks in Canterbury after active service in AfghanistanPeter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesNovember 4, 2006: British soldiers from 2 Squadron, Royal Air Force Regiment fire illumination flares from a mortar at Kandahar Air FieldJohn D McHugh/AFPMarch 18, 2007: British Marines take cover while blasting a hole in a wall during an anti-Taliban operation near the Kajaki Dam in the Afghan province of Helmand. Members of the 42 Royal Marines attacked a Taliban-held village on the outskirts of Kajaki in a morning operation to push Taliban insurgents further back from the British campJohn Moore/Getty ImagesMay 5, 2007: British Army soldier Alexander Harrison from the Grenadier Guards Regiment attached to the Royal Anglian Regiment is moved back to the Intensive Care Unit after a CT scan at the British Army Field Hospital at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province in Southern Afghanistan. Harrison was injured by a rocket-propelled grenade attack and sustained fragmentation injures to his head and torsoMarco Di Lauro/Getty ImagesMay 5, 2007: A British soldier from B Squadron of The Light Dragoons Regiment brushes his teeth as they camp in the desert to conduct counter-Taliban operations in Southern Helmand ProvinceMarco Di Lauro/Getty ImagesMay 8, 2007: British soldiers from the Grenadier Guards Regiment and the 27 Dragoon Battery, 19 Regiment Royal Artillery, repel an assault from Taliban insurgents coming from two sides at their combat security outpost in the Garmsir District of southern Helmand provinceMarco Di Lauro/Getty ImagesMay 13, 2007: Corporal Paul Morgan attached to the Grenadier Guards Regiment and Lieutenant Daniel Knowles of the Royal Engineers Regiment smoke during a patrol into Taliban territory outside the Delhi Patrol Base in Helmand ProvinceMarco Di Lauro/Getty ImagesMay 14, 2007: Two British soldiers from the Grenadier Guards sit under a mosquito net in their downtime at the Delhi Patrol Base. Nato troops operating in the south and in the province of Helmand were preparing for a new wave of the offensive after US-led Afghan troops killed the Taliban's top military commander Mullah DadullahMarco Di Lauro/Getty ImagesMay 21, 2007: A British soldier from the B Squadron of the Light Dragoons Regiment takes his first bath in two weeks in a location in the desert while conducting counter-Taliban operations in southern Helmand provinceMarco Di Lauro/Getty ImagesJune 7, 2007: British soldiers jump into the Helmand river for a swim in the Sangin valley, Helmand ProvinceAhmad Masood/ReutersNovember 6, 2007: British Army forces watch as a 1,000lb bomb is dropped on a position after they were fired on during a patrol of an area known as Hamburger Hill in Helmand province, AfghanistanSteve Lewis/ReutersJanuary 2, 2008: Prince Harry mans a machine gun on the observation post at JTAC Hill, close to FOB Delhi (forward operating base), in Helmand province, southern AfghanistanJohn Stillwell/PoolJanuary 1, 2008: Gurkhas fire mortars from FOB Delhi, towards Taliban fighters in Helmand province, AfghanistanJohn Stillwell/PoolJuly 10, 2009: British troops from the Royal Regiment of Scotland rest after being inserted by helicopter into a Taliban-held area of Afghanistan's Helmand province during operation Panther's Claw. British troops faced heavy fighting during the operation, a bid to clear out Taliban-held areas north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, while US Marines staged a massive operation of their own further southAhmad Masood/ReutersThe coffins of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan are repatriated on (clockwise from top left) 10 July 2009, 14 July 2009, 10 November 2009 and 4 March 2010Reuters/Getty ImagesOctober 8, 2010: British Army Lance Corporal Liam Wilkinson of 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment kisses his two-year-old son Mickey after returning from Afghanistan at Catterick BarracksNigel Roddis/ReutersFebruary 17, 2011: Mourners stand to attention as the cortege carrying the bodies of Lance Corporal Kyle Marshall, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, Private Lewis Hendry, 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, Private Conrad Lewis, 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment, and Privates Dean Hutchinson and Robert Wood, of the Royal Logistics Corps, passes through Wootton BassettToby Melville/ReutersDecember 12, 2012: Prince Harry wears a Santa hat at the VHR (very high readiness) tent close to the flight-line at Camp Bastion. Harry served as an Apache Helicopter Pilot/Gunner with 662 Sqd Army Air Corps, from September 2012 for four months until January 2013John Stillwell/PoolDecember 20, 2012: Prime Minister David Cameron attends a carol service with soldiers during a visit to Forward Operating Base Price in Helmand province, AfghanistanStefan Wermuth/ReutersOctober 26, 2014: British troops lower the Union flag during a ceremony marking the end of operations for US and British combat troops in Helmand province, AfghanistanOmar Sobhani/Reuters